Monday, 10 October 2011

Urban civilisation versus the desert dwellers

"(E)very urban civilisation becomes vulnerable when it grows decadent from within. People live in towns and get used to luxuries. The rich grow indolent, the poor resentful. ...People no longer think in terms of the common good. They are no longer willing to make sacrifices for one another. Essentially they lose the will to defend themselves. They then become easy prey for the desert dwellers, the people used to fighting to stay alive."

Just to put the quote in context, Sachs was suggesting that the writing of the 14th-century Islamic thinker Ibn Khaldun might have insights to the modern condition, hence, the reference to desert dwellers.

In Britain today, the "common good" means anonymous and personally distant welfare provision. There does appear to be a marked reluctance to provide any defence, both literally and metaphorically. Indolence and resentfulness - that pretty much describes the prevailing atmosphere right now.